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Free Blacks in Nineteenth Century Binghamton” Keisha N. Benjamin ”Free Blacks in Nineteenth Century Binghamton” In her recent history of the free black community of nineteenth-century Susquehanna County, PA, Debra Adleman wrote, “Things that have been forgotten or denied or have never been known or acknowledged, still exist, and when they are retrieved and reintegrated they give new and clearer meaning to the present.”[1] Adleman addressed the absence of blacks in the county’s recorded history, despite the significant role that blacks played in the nineteenth century. Similarly, the history of nineteenth-century Binghamton has paid very little attention to the black community, as demonstrated in the infrequent references made in local newspapers, local history books, and historical documents. Analyses of census records, letters, newspapers, oral histories, and nineteenth-century black community studies in the North reveal that although small, the black community of Binghamton flourished. This essay examines the lives of blacks in Binghamton from 1800 to 1860, with emphasis on free blacks of the mid- nineteenth century. Although facing the burden of racism and societal restrictions, the black community of Binghamton thrived, taking advantage of limited opportunities in the workforce, politics, education, and land ownership to build a strong foundation for subsequent generations. An analysis of the nineteenth-century black community in Binghamton reveals a group of men and women who were not simply “helpless victims of social and political circumstances,” but a group who quickly rose above their previous repressive status, many being former slaves.[2] According to the 1855 census records, twenty percent of black residents were born in slave states, including Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware.[3] Although we cannot conclude that all blacks born in slave states were former slaves, there is no doubt that many had been, especially since sixty-five percent of blacks in the South were enslaved in the mid-nineteenth century.[4] The Underground Railroad provided a means by which these blacks could escape and find refuge in the North. It was only until the revised Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that blacks faced an additional obstacle in the way of freedom. The Fugitive Slave Act made it unlawful for free citizens to assist escaped slaves, and granted slaveholders the right to capture runaway slaves in free states.[5] Therefore, blacks who had escaped from slave states after 1850 did so with the realization that the process would be even harder than before. Assistance from black and white abolitionists, and other sympathizers, became less frequent after 1850.[6] Despite the anti-slavery movement, which was in full swing by the mid-nineteenth century, blacks still faced the reality that escaping from slavery did not guarantee long-term freedom. In Exploring a Common Past, Historian Dwight T. Pitcaithley describes the challenge faced by escaped slaves, stating, “Professional slave catchers seized black men and women, often on the street or at their work place, and hastened them south after giving evidence that this person was indeed a fugitive slave to the justice of the peace or court.”[7] In many situations such evidence was forged, yet many escaped slaves were still forced to return to their masters, even after enduring the difficult flight to freedom.[8] Each year prior to the Civil War, thousands of slaves escaped from the South, the majority of which attempted to find refuge in the North and parts of Canada.[9] Many of these blacks migrated to various parts of upstate New York, including Elmira, Rochester, Buffalo and Binghamton.[10] Moreover, a significant number of former slaves from the North, who had acquired their freedom by the mid-nineteenth century, also relocated to Binghamton. This paper will discuss their migration to the latter and the legacy created by these early families, who were actively involved in the educational, political and economic areas of society. For both escaped slaves from the South and former slaves from the North, Binghamton became a place of refuge and a stepping-stone by which they were able to thrive throughout the nineteenth century. Prior to the early nineteenth century, Binghamton was widely known as Chenango Point.[11] The village was renamed after William Bingham, a wealthy English banker and resident of Philadelphia, who had acquired a large portion of land on both sides of the Susquehanna River after the American Revolution.[12] Bingham envisioned a new village that would encourage migration to the area and serve as a competition with other towns in New York State. [13] William Bingham hired Joshua Whitney, a local merchant, to work as his land agent and help accomplish Bingham’s initial goals. With the responsibility of contracting the first street plan of the village, Whitney worked diligently to increase migration to the area until his sudden death in 1798.[14] His son, Joshua Whitney, immediately assumed his father’s responsibilities and under his direction, the first courthouse was built in 1802.[15] By 1840, the village had experienced widespread growth with the construction of a second courthouse, the development of the Erie and Chenango canals, and a population of two thousand. [16] After the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, New York state residents fought to open several other canals, a period that local historian Gerald Smith refers to as “canal fever.”[17] These residents pushed for legislation that would authorize the construction of canals in several areas of the state, which eventually led to the development of the Chenango Canal by 1837.[18]James and Lois Horton’s In Hope of Liberty addresses the significant role that the Erie Canal played in the development of the west during the early nineteenth century: The remarkably rapid population growth on the western frontier during the 1820s was fueled by commercial opportunities stimulated by the opening of the Erie canal in 1825...cities like Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Buffalo acted as business outposts for the development of the surrounding territory.... [Free states] attracted a growing number of African Americans, both free blacks and runaway slaves, and a white population of decidedly divided opinion about the institution of slavery.[19] Similar to other northern cities, Binghamton experienced widespread economic and demographic growth as a result of the Erie Canal. Additionally, the Chenango Canal proved vital to the success of Binghamton.[20] It attracted widespread migration to the area, which led to the development of a diverse population.[21] During the 1840s, a significant number of immigrants from Ireland and Germany settled in Broome County, motivated by various job opportunities that were available after the construction of the canals.[22] The Chenango Canal, which was ninety-five miles long and forty-six feet wide, provided a connection between Binghamton and Utica, and contributed significantly to the industrial growth of the area.[23] This industrial growth provided new residents with occupational opportunities in manufacturing and production. This became one of the main “pull factors” for both blacks and whites, which led to the arrival of nearly twelve thousand new residents between the early nineteenth century and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.[24] The nineteenth-century white population of Binghamton prospered in education and labor force participation. Members of the white community succeeded educationally, with ninety-eight percent of the white population capable of reading and writing, according to the 1855 census records.[25] New residents took advantage of the educational opportunities available in Binghamton through public schools, private academies, and local churches. In fact, the early education system in Binghamton was unable to accommodate the growing number of immigrant children in need of schooling, leading to the growth of private academies to fill the gap.[26] The white community also contributed greatly to the move towards the Industrial Age. In The Valley of Opportunity, Gerald Smith describes the role that white residents played in the growth of Binghamton, stating, “These immigrants provided the region with a valuable source of labor for the growing industrial base.”[27] According to the 1855 New York State Census, a significant number of whites in Broome County worked in factories and as railroad men and merchants.[28] Others worked in a wide range of fields including carpentry and coopery. The members of Binghamton’s white community were also ethnically diverse, with ninety-one percent of the residents born outside of New York and eight percent born outside of the United States. [29] By the mid-nineteenth century, the black community comprised of 1.4 percent of the general population. These blacks migrated to Binghamton, motivated by the same “pull factors” that drew many white immigrants to the area. Unlike their white counterparts, however, some blacks were escaped slaves seeking freedom in the North. Others were blacks from free states, including New York, who had relocated to Binghamton. In fact, there were also black residents who were born slaves in the Binghamton area. One such example is demonstrated through the life of Tom “Old Bay” Crocker, who was born a slave in 1820 to the prominent Crocker family of Union, the town that encompasses the village of Endicott and Johnson City.[30] According to local historians, Crocker’s wife, Margaret Cruiser, may have been an escaped slave who worked for the Gates family of Maine, only minutes away from Binghamton.[31] Blacks in Binghamton, whether born in the North or South, utilized their prior experiences and struggles as a discriminated minority to pave a future for themselves and subsequent generations. The lives of Thomas Crocker and Margaret Cruiser help paint a picture of the nineteenth-century black population as a whole. Census records reveal that twenty percent of black residents were born in Broome County and had remained in the area for a significant number of years.
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